ERIC WEGERBAUER

How To Save Banner Ads

eric — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 08:21:58 +0000

I just got done speaking at the OMMA Conference in Los Angeles. I sat on a panel of 5, and we had 45 minutes to discuss ‘Can Creative Save Display?’ The simple answer is NO…at least not by itself.

It’s a big topic and a lot went unsaid in the short 45 minutes, so here is a quick breakdown of what I would do to save banner ads:

Targeting. Let’s start with what everyone is saying - better targeting! How? Well that’s 2 or 3 blog posts in itself…let’s just say it can get a lot better. There are some powerful tools for targeting out there, but privacy issues will be that other arm wrestling against them.

Bigger is not better. Both the IAB and OPA are preaching bigger banner ads. That’s a mistake and is really just adding more lipstick to the pig. As our screens get smaller, taking away content space and providing more real estate to something already not working will hurt the user’s experience and only frustrate views down the (very short) road.

Banner-DUE. Instead of banners getting bigger, why not go in the other direction and broom them off the page - only leaving the resiDUE of the banners behind. What is this Banner-DUE I speak of…imagine a very clean site with only content as the hero. As you read, you come across a small/simple icon that lives in the content…a very discreet piece of marketing (resiDUE) that is specific to the content being read. When you get to the icon you can ignore it and continue reading or choose to rollover it and either goto that link, save it for later consumption, send to others, post to your socialNets, etc. For better transparency, using a simple set of banner-DUE icons will tell the users right away what type of content is awaiting them, allowing for better decisions around what marketing messages hold value in their eyes.

Mass-Customization. Banners are not going away tomorrow, and for the near future we will see growth in the number of banner sizes offered. We consume our content with screens of all sizes (phones to giant plasmas). A banner campaign needs to be created as a ‘kit of parts’ that dovetails nicely to each user’s needs and their current screen. As creatives, our challenge is to build those targeted components that speak in many unique ways, but are still conceptually strong, esthetically appealing and easily mass produced.

Let People opt in! I know…most people think this is bullshit, but hear me out. If you give users a choice of - (A) continue getting the random crap ads as usual, or (B) tell us how you want to be marketed to. Users would jump at the opportunity to tell marketers that they would prefer in-text ads over eye-blasters, or the fact they prefer basketball over golf and action films over documentaries. If all of the talk around targeted advertising is really about giving the users what they want, why not simply ask them? To further incentivize user opt in, imagine banners that give away $$$ instantly and only those that have opted in have access to those special (golden ticket) banners.

Facebook Connect. Ad networks should be ALL OVER THIS! Again, users would need to opt into opening up their Facebook content to the ad networks. If users do so, they would receive marketing materials based on their latest Facebook status update, or see banners that are personalized with their own images. Again, opting in with levels of exposure to their personal data is key. Phones already allow people to opt into receiving geo-targeted local area coupons as they get close to participating retailers…banner should be keeping pace.

Banner as tool. If you can serve up a valuable tool that will save time, people will engage with that banner. For example, someone is reading an article about shoes, and the banner is for Zappos. The banner has a live feed of someone waiting to help you right there through the banner. ‘I can order your shoes right now!’ If needed, the banner can be expanded and the live helper on the other end will show you different shoes and talk you through any questions you may have. For companies that are already engaged in client conversations through social media, the person live on the other end of that banner can very well be the same person doing your Twitter/Facebook/etc. correspondence. Call center reps. that have taken on digital channels are also ripe for staring in these banners.

Ad networks, publishers, advertisers and agencies all need to start thinking about larger shifts in how banners get used. If not, it won’t be a pretty site when that caked on lipstick quickly starts running down the chin of our pig.

Twitter Visualized

eric — Thu, 28 May 2009 06:45:00 +0000

Sense I can’t seem to find time to write a real blog post, I thought I would share with you what happens when I get invited to a meeting that I should not have been in. A sketch book take on Twitter as I see it:

Creative Financial Work

eric — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 04:50:29 +0000

Here is another installment of some work examples. This comes from the financial industry, which needs a lot more than good creative to get them out of the situation they are in now! This first example is a game that’s made to help better understand credit scores. The financial industry could use a similar game themselves on how to manage a healthy hedge fund. (Is that an oxymoron?)

The above image is a visual representation of how my 401K currently feels.

Next are some landing page designs that drive targeted messaging to specific loan types:

Social Media: Twitter For Business

eric — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 06:16:24 +0000

This is a straight forward guide for how businesses can successfully leverage Twitter. I have a lot more detail in a presentation deck, so if you are interested shoot me an email. This information comes mostly from three fortune 500 social initiatives I have worked closely on. Let’s dive right in…

Sign up and listen. Opening an account is self explanatory. Once in, start by listening, and resist the urge to spew your company’s greatness. Through Twitter search, choose the topics you want to ‘listen’ to, and then sign up for those RSS feeds…Twitter will keep you updated with any words and/or phrases you want to follow. Dell, for example, might pull these different RSS feeds: Dell, Dells, #Dell, laptop and computer (more on # later).

Speak as a person, not a logo. Make sure you have someone constantly monitoring your feeds. If someone mentions your brand, reach out to them and start a dialogue right away…the sooner the better! As the movement suggests - BE SOCIAL…it is easy to forget and play the marketing buffoon. Answer questions and solve people’s problems, but also get to know your users - it’s ok to ask them about their family, hobbies and job…it’s ok to move off script. If you show them something other than the corporate robot you will prosper. Corporate policies tend to dehumanize a brand’s one-on-one communication…a proper Tweet exchange turns that on its head! The Sprint Twitter rep. has a picture of him and his dog as a thumbnail and talks about journals, local events and food…very human, very real…not all business all the time…and it works really well.

How to respond. There are several ways you can respond to people through Twitter. If you find someone’s comment through your RSS feed and they are not following you, then you want to follow them and send an @reply in response to their tweet (by following them, they are more likely to follow you back). This response will be seen by all of your follows. Normally you want this public openness because it is good for people to see that you are helping others and adding value. In addition, your reply might help others. If you want to send a direct message, which is private, the person needs to be following you.

Customer service. Twitter is a great marketing tool as long as you don’t market with it. If you help someone that has 2,000 followers, and they @reply with “Thank you”, you just had a real person saying good things about you in front of 2,000 follows that are interested in what that person has to say…that’s better than any traditional marking **blah** that companies focus endlessly on! If you say you can help someone, make sure you back it up. Case in point…if Sprint can’t help me through Twitter, they give my information to a VIP customer service agent and has them contact me with a personal call. Remember that your customers, while in ’social’ spaces, have megaphones permanently strapped to their mouths, and whether good or bad, they are going to talk about you through their networks. You want to make sure you are ‘always on’ and able to take quick action. You can’t go on vacation for two weeks and walk away from your community…the voice of the company needs to stay active. If you are always on and respond quickly with value, your brand advocacy index will shoot through the roof, and that’s a good thing!

Establish some level of governance. You need to have a clear understanding of how you want to talk to your group of followers. What you do will depend on the comfort level of your organization. You can establish a solid set of rules and regulations around types of communication, tone of voice, outreach, etc. or you can rely more on common sense and provide a simple set of guidelines for those who use Twitter in the organization. Governance becomes most important when addressing negative tweets. With negativity, you never want to ‘get into it’ with users…it’s better to stay calm and resolve their issues while taking the highroad. As a brand, if you get into a tweet argument with a user, you will almost always do your brand more harm than good.

Here is an example of a tweet I sent about how Cash4Gold was ripping people off:

Cash4Gold got back to me right away and they were very professional with a reply stating their side of the story:

This was very helpful, open and professional…an experience that altered my impression of the brand right on the spot.

What you say doesn’t go away. Search engines, Like Google, Yahoo and MSN, crawl all of your tweets and index them. Everything you say is public record and will show up in general search results across all browsers…this can help or hurt you, and that’s largely up to you.

Marketing your message. Wow…did I just say that! I did, and yes, you need to be VERY CAREFUL here. As I said, if you push market to people, they will turn you off and tell others to do the same. If you push anything out to your followers, make sure it is something that makes them want to engage, learn and come back for more. Here is an example from Doubletree that misses the mark:

Who cares! Testimonials, no matter how grand they appear in corporate eyes, are usually viewed as a waste of time and an invasion of people’s ’social’ space.

Taking a different approach, this Doubletree post does a much better job living within the ’social’ fabric:

For starters, Doubletree is replying to someone and saying thank you. The link to the blog post was not re-posted - this shows confidence and restraint. “…love your jewelry!’ is perfect…it takes the corporate out of Doubletree and makes them human as they took time to look at this person’s site and comment on something personal…that’s conversation, and that’s good ‘non-marketing’.

Open the ‘brand’ door. Again, instead of marketing out, open your doors and invite people in. People who are interested in your brand follow you…they are a great focus group, so why not ask for their advice. Say a car company is picking a new color for a car…they can open the door a little and ask for suggests on what the name of the color should be, or the can pry the door open a little more and let the users actually pick which color they think would work best. It’s simple…if your company ever has a decision that the group can add value to, open it up to your followers. They will feel like part of the team and develop a stronger brand loyalty.

No conquesting. Don’t try to conquest your competitor’s users on Twitter. Say you are Nike…you do not want to go after people who are talking about Adidas. Even if they are having a problem with Adidas, stay away…that’s getting up in the grill of others and will backfire as being too agressive. If someone asks a question about what shoes to get Nikes or Adidas, then a simple reply with a comment about your shoes, or a 3rd party link explaining your position. Be careful, because most users in this situation want to hear from other customers, and not you.

The automated direct message. You can set up an automated direct message that gets sent to anyone that signs up to follow you. DON’T USE THIS!! If you want to reach out to those who start following you, make it a personal message…not the generic one size fits all. I just went through my last 100 direct messages, and 92 of them contain the words ‘thanks for following’…ouch! That is hollow at best and there is nothing ’social’ about it. Chris Brogan takes it a step further here: Chris Brogan on Direct Messages. The best approach is to stay on top of who is following you…check out their posts, look at their blog, and make a personal connection with a direct message that means something.

When to follow someone. You will often see people go out and follow hunderds of people in hopes that those people will follow you back. DON’T DO THIS EITHER! You want people that count and mean something to your brand. As you monitor the Twitterscape for conversations that mention your brand, go ahead and follow those people as mentioned above. Once following, shoot them a message that adds value. Keep in mind that if two people are following each other, they can send direct messages back and forth. This could benefit your brand if users contact you directly to air their dirty laundry instead of posting it for all of their followers to see.

Encourage ‘re-tweets’ If you post content that is helpful, it will get re-tweeted (RT) and shared with others. Once that happens, a whole new set of eyes have exposure to your content…and if they like what they see, they will start following you.

Ask questions. Very simple, but also very helpful in getting good feedback from your followers. If you keep the questions high value, people will share.

Using Hashtags (#). You might have seen hashtags (#) used in Tweets. The # allows people to follow topics instead of people. If you wanted to follow Superbowl commentary during the game through Twitter, you would do so by simply tracking #superbowl. If your brand has topics of importance, it would be smart to track those hashtags or create them yourself. Doubletree for example created #DTcookies to keep those who love their cookies informed. Hashtags can also help you announce new products and keep people abreast to company current events. Hashtags are also great for your SEO ranking, so think of the key value terms you want to focus on.

Other channels. Let people know you are on Twitter and that there is value in that. Make sure your Twitter link is on your homepage, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube Channel, etc. Make it easy for people to join the conversation. You can grab the Twitter logo here: http://www.epicchange.org/img/logo_twitter2.jpg

This post is already way to long, so if you need the very basics in getting started with Twitter, Jerimiah Owyang shares this post that provides solid information and other links on starting up: Link to Jeremiah Owyang’s post

If you know of a compay that could use this, pass it on…

The New York Times Writing Hidden Advitorials?

eric — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:30:19 +0000

Yesterday Virginia Heffernan wrote the following post for The Medium, a section of The New York Times Magazine:

BEING THERE. The subtle art of the Facebook update.

I often read this section of the paper and was taken in by the title. Working in the industry, I am always interested in how mainstream media covers our current online zeitgeist. As I read, something didn’t feel right. I kept thinking that Facebook’s public relations agency had a controlling hand in constructing this perfect ‘advertisement’ that now lived in a very reputable news source - The New York Times.

Let’s take a closer look at Virginia’s ‘article’:

The ‘article’ is about Facebook status updates, but the first paragraph starts in by landing a punishing blow to Facebook’s competitor, MySpace. My first thought was, why mention MySpace at all? Here’s what was written:

“…he preferred Facebook to MySpace because MySpace (in his view) was for emo kids who liked Death Cab for Cutie and Facebook was for clever kids who liked words.”

“The Facebook interface is minimalist and not stupid or smeared with fingerpaint like MySpace,…” he said, if I remember right. “It leaves room for wit.”

This is when it hit me…this type of opening would do wonders for a Facebook advitorial.

With that in mind, my attention turned again to the topic…Facebook status updates. This feature is something Facebook ‘borrowed’ from Twitter (a fast growing competitor in the social media space). In marketing a product, it is a common tactic to look for one strategic feature and focus your message there. For Facebook, the status update would be the perfect target, as it would clearly demonstrate that they now have Twitter’s key feature. With such spot-on messaging in favor of Facebook the advitorial thoughts stuck with me.

If you ask people in the social media industry what the difference between Facebook updates and Twitter is, almost everyone will say that Facebook is more about your everyday activities, while Twitter takes on a more professional and witty tone. Facebook is more the ‘Eating tacos at Mac’s…yummy’ while Twitter is anchored in the sharing of information with like-minded people and adding thought provoking commentary. (Here is my page as an example.) With that said, Virginia’s ‘article’ tries to change that perception with a string of comments about witty Facebook posts that add value. Again, classic marketing at work here with targeted messaging aimed at changing current perceptions.

When you reach the end of the ‘article’, There are recommendations…and this is where I told myself I was going to write about this. The following jumped right out at me:

WE ACCEPT YOU: Facebook.com. Where maiden names are revived (so high-school friends can find you); where unfriending someone is an art: where every day is an impromptu reunion. If you haven’t joined yet, what’s stopping you?

This goes beyond an advitorial. It’s a flat out Facebook advertisement right there in the ‘article’! WOW!

Is all this a coincidence? Was Twitter, the originator of status update, not a part of the recommendations by chance? Maybe? I would love to hear Virginia’s telling of how the ‘article’ came together, but she, and The New York Times Magazine, have a lot of explaining to do because here is the kicker…After finishing Virginia’s story, I turn the page and start the Consumed section written by Rob Walker . Rob’s ‘article’ is about Twitter, but the title is ‘A Successful Failure’. The ‘article’ does Twitter no favors as the opening graphic shows a series of cracked mugs with the words ‘Fail Whale’ under it, and there is copy reads as follows, “…during a big popularity spike, Twitter experienced regular service outages…”. Though the focus of the ‘article’ is deftly written about the person who created the graphic for the ‘Fail Whale’, it still knocks down Twitter whenever it can. For example, it alludes to the fact that Twitter’s branding is made of stock imagery that costs but a few dollars…a subtle slapping around, but effective in cheapening the Twitter brand.

One could argue that Virginia and Rob wrote two very different ‘articles’, but there is one very clear message they make together - ‘Facebook is better than MySpace and Twitter!’ I don’t know Facebook’s PR agency, but I will bet you my house and a mouse that the agency has a close relationship with The New York Times.

Don’t get me wrong, I love The New York Times and rely on it for a lot of great information, and I really enjoy Virginia Heffernan’s work and think she is a fine journalist. What I have a problem with, and why I am writing this post, is the disturbing trend of having content and advertising dance too closely at the masquerade ball. Newspapers are in need of revenue, and marketers are struggling to reach elusive customers…and this combination only means bad news for all our content.

All companies need to understand that consumers are begging for transparent brands that can listen and are trustworthy. Masked tactics that try to fool the audience won’t last long. If content had a Facebook page, it’s current update would be, “I’m at my computer. I don’t see advertising coming up behind me with a rope. The rope tightens around my neck, and advertising changes my status to: is DEAD!”

Creative Design that Works

eric — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:52:14 +0000

Several of you have asked to see more work examples after the holiday card post. Looking back at the posts, I see a smothering of diction…and so…here is a bit of automotive icing to satisfy the digital tongue in all of us:

How to SEO your resume.

eric — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:05:48 +0000

This here post is dedicated to PN.

I posted the above comment on Twitter, asking if people have search engine optimized (SEO) their resume. I received so many @replies & direct messages asking for more information that I thought in these economic times, it made sense to put together a solid how-to guide that helps get your resume in front of those who need it most. A special thanks to Mark Beekman who read over the below list and provided some solid feedback.

Here we go…

Get your resume online. This is the obvious first step…open up the SEO doors and let people (and the algorithms) see who you are on their terms. If you password protect your resume page, you will NOT be found!

Buy a URL that describes the job you are after. Search engines like URLs that say what they are. For example, if I was a Creative Director looking for work in Los Angeles, I would go buy the URL www.CreativeDirectorLosAngeles.com This will rank very well for anyone searching for a Creative Director in LA. Here is a site for buying web addresses (URLs) cheap: GoDaddy.com It’s ok to buy more than one URL for your resume, but just make sure you don’t have the exact same content on both pages…search engines don’t like that.

Title tag and page title. Your title tag holds a lot of weight…this is what usually shows up at the very top of the browser above the URL in the ‘frame’. Search bots take this information seriously and it is often overlooked, so make sure you have it included. The actual title of your resume page is important as well. Make it large for more search and visual importance. Make sure both page title and title tag utilize your same keywords, but have slightly different wording.

Make sure all your resume copy can be found by the search bots. If you have any text that is in an image format, consider changing it. If, for visual purposes, you have some text in a graphic header, make sure that key information is repeated in searchable HTML copy.

Use a relevant set of keywords. Research how employers are searching for candidates in your field and use those keywords and phrases throughout your resume. If you are looking for fulltime work, make sure you use that phrase. If you want a job in Dallas, make sure that’s a keyword you use throughout. Always be in the mind of those who are looking for employees online. To help you get into that mind of the employer, you can download the trial version of Trillion here: Search results software -Trillion This helps you understand the popular terms people search for.

Job Titles. These tie back into using relevant, known keywords. Think in terms of what is the most common job title for what you do? If you didn’t have job titles at your work, or you had an uncommon title (like Chief Storyteller), consider replacing that with the more common term, or at least use both terms together.

Image optimization. If you are going to use images, make sure you name that image with the appropriate keywords. For example, if you are someone that likes putting a picture of yourself on your resume, make sure you label that image like so: FirstName_LastName_JobTitle_Location.

Alt tags. Provide alt tag text for your images. This is what people see if the image does not load (or is loading slowly) and it still helps a wee bit with your search results.

Links. Make sure you link out to any of the work you have done that can be found online, and more importantly, make sure those sites link back to your resume. When they link to your resume, it is very helpful if they use the same keywords that you are optimizing for and the links vary slightly from one to the other. There is a lot of link spamming going on out there, so make sure you are slow and methodical about acquiring your inbound links…if not, the browsers will punish your site and ‘black list’ it. For a resume I don’t see this happening, but just keep in mind that you can’t start littering links all over the web at the same time with the same copy.

Not too wordy. In an effort to get all the needed keywords into a resume, sometimes the content gets long. Try to avoid this from happening. If you keep your content short and targeted to your keywords and phrases, you will be fine. It also helps to Bold or italicize those key points. A simple example: ‘Civil Engineer Resume’ will outrank ‘This is my Civil Engineering Online Resume’ in almost all cases. Keep it short…you don’t want to lose people once they get there by being long winded. Online legibility and ease of reading web pages is a whole other blog post, but if you are interested in that, here is a link: writing for the web

Leverage social rating and bookmarking sites. Add social icons to the bottom of your page and encourage people to digg, mixx, furl, delicious, etc. Once your resume goes live, Digg your own page to ensure the title that shows on their site is optimized with the keywords that you are optimizing for.

Cross-link your personal social sites. Place a link to your resume on any social sites you are a member of: Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, etc. As mentioned above, make sure the links contain your targeted keywords and that there is some variation in the wording of the different links.

Get links from industry sites or publications. One way to do this is to add comments on industry blogs w/ links back to you. Be careful doing this, as you don’t want to ’spam’ sites for the purpose of getting your resume out there. Be relevant with your comments and make sure you are adding to the discussion.

3rd party job sites. If you are additionally posting your resume onto 3rd party sites like Career Builder or Monster, most of the same rules above still apply.

Because I don’t want to waste your time and regurgitate already chewed information all over you, I don’t ever look to see what has been written about the topics I blog about. I share from my experiences, and as a result I sometimes miss really good points, so please let me know if there is anything else that you think will help with those looking for work.

Also…if you know anyone looking for work, feel free to pass this along if you think it might help. If you Twitter, here is a convenient tweet post:

If you, or someone you know, are looking for work, this post on optimizing your resume through SEO could help: http://tinyurl.com/asjcuy

Great Skateboard Deck Design

eric — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 08:29:54 +0000

A few months ago I had a wild hair twitching, and I decided to sooth it by going online and ordering blank skateboard decks in bulk. What followed was a design deck-off that saw a lot more than just the creative team’s involvement. It was a great way to build office morale…especially in this economic climate. Check out the sweet wood:

Here is our winner!!

And the runner ups…The Takashi Murakami inspired board took second place, and the mix between Shepard Fairey, Banksy and Seen took in third.

Here’s the deal…third place and the winner had their graphics professionally applied straight from their digital files. Because of that, we had some other contest winners. ‘LA’ won best hand painted board, ’Leaf’ won most minimal and ‘Balloons’ won best use of an abstract art media…

And all of the other fantastic work that was submitted…starting with the orange crew:

The middle lady in this next set was my 6 year old daughter’s idea…I sacrificed her feather boa and two cat toys to make it happen!

Go Dallas Cowboys…oops, maybe next year. All three of these came from people outside of the creative group. Not sure why they all migrated to blue?

Those are real dollar bills. However, there is nothing real about that baby being wrapped up by a snake:

More green…love the M&Ms:

These next three are samples of great hand painting skill!

I really love this last one in the middle…It was my #1 choice when I voted. And finally, we had a huge debate over which finger Tony is holding up???

There you have it. A ton of fun that now makes for some great agency wall art. If you would like more information on how to get affordable boards and how to best organize something similar, just reach out and I will be more than happy to give you a hand. Skate on!!

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Note: If you are a Twitter user and like this post, feel free to tweet the following comment and/or link:

Beautiful skateboard designs from @lickbrain: http://is.gd/gqx3

Simpson’s Marketing That Lasts

eric — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 09:27:29 +0000

Marketing that lasts forever!! Get this…

In July of 07, the Simpsons movie was released and they temporarily made several local 7-Eleven stores into Simpsons Quickie Marts. One of the items they were selling was pink donuts, just like the ones that Homer loves so much.

My brother-in-law, Brent, works at EA and was partaking in some of the pink donut love. Here is an blurb he sent me recently:

“Work brought in a big box of these and I took two. I ate one, and it was tasty. I decided to save the other one. I just left it sitting on a napkin in a cabinet in my cubicle. There it has sat for the last 17 months!! Amazingly, it has barely changed at all, you can see that the frosting has crinkled up a little bit, but the donut still looks exactly the way it did the day it was brought to my cube. It didn’t even stick to the napkin!!”

The pictures you see here I had Brent shoot for me after my sister broke the donut story to me. Notice, in the below photo, how there is absolutely nothing on the napkin the donut has been sitting on all this time…those are some CRAZY, SPOOKY strong preservatives:

Make you want to go eat some 7-Eleven donuts? One thing you can be sure of…we will be talking about the Simpsons and their donuts for a lOOOOOng time!